Underground
by AlwaysPadfoot
Summary: James helps a girl on Christmas Eve and ends up taking her home.


**Underground**

**AlwaysPadfoot**

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**AN: **I really enjoyed writing this so yeah, R&R :)

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When Sirius and I planned to spend the Christmas of seventh year searching for apartments, I did not expect to be trudging through the snow on Christmas Eve, freezing my arse off. I'd just seen the worse apartment I'd probably ever seen and I was kind of half hoping that Sirius had better luck and half jealous that he wasn't slipping and sliding through Muggle London like me. A cold breeze blew down the street I was on, but it didn't seem to bother the shoppers still out doing some late night shopping for tomorrow. In fact it was relatively busy for eight in the evening and all I wanted to do was go grab a butterbeer.

I was about to turn down an abandoned alleyway to apparate back to the Leaky Cauldron when a brown haired girl slid down the stairs of a small boutique up ahead of me with a squeal. Her bags dropped into the snow and automatically I rushed to her aid and helped her to her feet.

"Oh my gosh, thank you," she said. When she looked up at me, her face was flushed with embarrassment and I smiled softly.

"It's no problem, we can't have a pretty girl like you lying in the snow," I grinned. It was a cheesy line, but even so I could swear her cheeks coloured a little more. She pushed some of her hair out of her eyes and behind her ear and at that moment I managed to get a glimpse of her soft brown eyes.

"Thank you," she repeated, before there was a moment of silence, "Were you heading to the underground too?"

I deliberated for a short moment before nodding, "Yeah, yeah, I was."

I had no idea what the underground was but I had a feeling I was about to find out as we headed down the street together.

"Erm, so where are you heading?"

"Hmmm, I'm just drifting for the moment. My friend has buggered off with his girlfriend," I lied, "He does it to me all the time. I'm James by the way."

"I'm Petunia," she answered.

"That's an unusual, but beautiful name," I said. She blushed again, hiding her face in her scarf for a long moment. Snow started to tumble softly from the darkness that had fallen across the skies of London and we stayed in a comfortable silence as we turned towards Leicester Square Station. I didn't really have any idea what I was going to do when we got to the station, because I had no Muggle money to use so getting through the ticket barrier was going to be interesting. We finally got to the stairs down into the station and Petunia grabbed my arm after almost slipping again.

"Sorry," she mumbled again.

"It's okay," I replied, "Just try not to take me down with you."

Petunia laughed softly and I smiled. This certainly had turned into a really interesting night, I felt comfortable and Petunia felt familiar, although, I couldn't quite put my finger on why. We only got a few feet from the ticket office when she groaned, "Oh no, I used my last five pound note on that last present."

I assumed a five pound note was Muggle money so I had to think quickly for a response. Discretely I pulled out my wand whilst Petunia was digging through her purse and cast a notice-me-not charm on the both of us. She looked up suddenly just giving me a few milliseconds to managed to slip my wand up my sleeve.

"Did you feel that?" She asked.

"No, but lets go get that train," I whispered, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the barrier.

"Oh my gosh James, what the hell are you doing?"

"Getting you home before Christmas."

Petunia didn't resist as I climbed over the barrier and helped her over after me, but every so often she'd look around nervously, in case anyone spotted us. They wouldn't. Of course, they wouldn't, but even so I was filled with adrenaline as we rushed away towards the platform. She stayed ahead of me and didn't stop until she was sure she was out of any trouble that could have arisen at any point.

"I've never done that before," she breathed as we waited for the train.

"You've never been on the underground with me before," I grinned. I was happy to leave it at that considering I've never been on the underground before and Petunia was still holding my hand after we'd run through the station. I looked down at the same time as she did and nervously she let go and swapped her bags around to balance the weight of the shopping she'd brought. I brought my hand up and ruffled my hair a little so it sat in perfect Potter style.

"James," she said, "The trains here."

I hadn't even heard the train pull up, but quickly we hopped on board before the doors slammed shut in some guy's disgruntled face. I almost wanted to laugh at the expression on his face, but then a slight pang of concern struck deep inside me. Were they going to let him on? The train starting to move soon answered my question.

"He must be devastated," I said as the man sped out of sight. Petunia shrugged her shoulders and found us some seats close to the door.

After a short moment she spoke up again, "So are you in University here?"

I didn't even know what University was so I shook my head, "No I'm in my final year of school. How about you?"

"Really, you looked older. I finished school last year, I'm on a course at the moment to become a receptionist," Petunia answered.

"Oh, do you enjoy it?"

I thought it sounded miserable personally and Petunia seemed to think so too.

"Erm, it's okay," she replied, "It's not really what I wanted to do."

"What did you want to do?" I asked.

Petunia proceeded to tell me how she'd hoped to follow her father's footsteps and go to University to study medicine, which I knew to be Muggle Healing. She told me that her father died a year ago and she hadn't applied therefore missing her chance of getting in.

"I mean I could apply for next year but I don't know," she finished.

I thought about everything she'd told me before perparing an answer in reply.

"I think you should do it," I responded, "You clearly not enjoying the course you're on at the moment. I mean just because you apply doesn't mean you have to go in the end, right?"

"I guess so," she said hesitantly.

"My Dad's been preparing me for jobs and interviews so if you have an interview I could help you out," I offered as the train propelled through London.

"That sounds good to me," she smiled honestly, "I'm swapping lines at South Kensington by the way."

"Well, if you'd like I could accompany you," I replied, "I'd like to make sure you get home safe."

Petunia appeared to think about it, but then nodded. We talked about what she'd got for her family and friends from school and I told her a little about my family and friends without dropping the whole magic is real thing. We spoke at length about various things as we swapped trains including the upcoming Christmas and New Year events and Petunia told me about some girl on her course who'd been kicked off for various reasons, particularly her late night escapades into the course leaders office.

I could have listened to her forever, she had a soft voice, a beautiful laugh and an amazing curiosity. She kept commenting on the people we were seeing and the posters of the tunnels around us and providing some kind of intellectual insight into it.

"I mean I can see why they'd want to bring in the card system to lower the security in tube stations, but when there's people who skip fares - kind of like us - and of course, even if it is a good idea, with our government, the rule probably won't come in for like twenty-five years." She paused, "You know, how are we going to get back over the barriers at Chiswick Park?"

I appeared to think about it for a moment, "I don't think it will be much of a problem."

"If I get into trouble, it's all your fault," Petunia said, the faintest trace of a smirk on her face despite the fact her eyebrows were furrowed anxiously.

"You're talking to the master of pranks and mischief; we'll be fine," I reassured her.

And fine we were. Upon our arrival at Chiswick Park, the previous notice-me-not charm still safely in place from our previous escapade over the barriers at Leicester Square. We crossed the barriers and I offered Petunia my arm as we climbed the snowy stairs up onto the street above. During the train ride the snow had gotten heavier and we stayed close together for warmth as we headed through the streets.

I wanted to see Petunia again after this, before I went back to Hogwarts. I'd had more fun than I'd had with any girl that I'd ever dated. As we walked up the path of her house together, I took a moment to take in the house in front of me, which was much nicer than the houses we'd walked past before. I think they'd been located in a place called Spinners End and the lines of terraced houses there were horrible compared to the cottage like house up ahead of us.

I took a breath just as Petunia knocked on her door, "Do you think maybe we could meet up again after Christmas?"

Petunia stopped and stared at me, "You want to meet up again?"

"Yeah, I do, I had so much fun getting to know you," I answer, rubbing the back of my neck nervously and hoping that maybe perhaps she'd say yes. At that exact moment the door opened and a gasp made me turn to the figure in the doorway.

"Potter?"

My eyes fell on the shocked face of Lily Evans and to my surprise I didn't feel the need to really ask her out of try and make her like me.

"You know him?" Petunia asked incredulously, a sneer crossing her face.

Lily sneered at me, "Of course I do."

"NIce to see you too, Evans," I retorted dryly making her blink in disbelief, "So Petunia, Friday? I'll pick you up around eleven."

Before she could answer and turn me down I turned around and headed down the path away from the house. A funny feeling built in my stomach, a broad grin crossing my face. I was ecstatic that Petunia hadn't even tried to turn me down and I finally realised, I'd gotten over Lily Evans.

_Petunia hadn't turned me down._

I was going on a date with a beautiful and intelligent muggle girl and I'd genuinely never been happier.

_I can't wait until Friday._


End file.
